Internship Highlight: Ioannis Dalezios

Ioannis Dalezios is spending his summer working as a Materials Science and Engineering Intern at Cummins Inc. in Columbus, IN, where he is tasked with establishing a comprehensive corrosion properties database for materials used in the company's engine components across multiple corrosive environments. He is also involved in failure analysis and root cause investigations of failed engine components, and ultimately providing recommendations to customers.

Dalezios chose to pursue this opportunity because of his interest in understanding how materials interact with different environments and how analysis of these interactions can be leveraged to optimize the performance of mechanical components across different industries.

Throughout the summer, he is applying what he has learned in the classroom and labs at CMU to his responsibilities at Cummins. 

“My Data Analytics and Machine Learning course has been invaluable in analyzing and reporting findings in a clear and concise manner that interdisciplinary engineering teams can understand,” he noted. “The characterization techniques I have learned through CMU's Materials Characterization Facility during my research projects have also directly supported my failure analysis work, particularly in microstructural examination and defect identification.”

This experience has reinforced the practical value of theoretical knowledge in solving industry problems

Ioannis Dalezios, Graduate Student, CMU Materials Science and Engineering

Throughout his time as an intern, Dalezios has been able to observe how different materials and alloys perform in extreme service environments and discover how fundamental materials science principles can be applied to investigate and address real-world engineering challenges.  

“This experience has reinforced the practical value of theoretical knowledge in solving industry problems,” he said when reflecting on the impact of his internship.  

As Dalezios returns to campus for the fall semester to complete his Master's degree, he has further appreciation of the importance of timely and accurate technical reporting, as well as how deeply understanding fundamental concepts before diving into applications can make a difference in the long term.